burning paper money, clothes, furniture for my ancestors

---

(part two, feb 21st)

....we then continued down the road to find the family that was maintaining the tomb. wow! another epic experience!!

we pulled into (follow me here) my mother's cousin's house. her grandfather's brother's son's house. the entire family was there!! it just happened to be the anniversary of the cousin's mother's death. the older relatives were dressed in ceremonial gowns and head wraps. they were honoring her with a huge feast, lit incense and bowing and prayers and burning of money.

they burn (fake) paper money, furniture, and clothing. the buddhists of this province believe that there are two worlds that coexist. this living world and the after world. when one dies, she passes into the after world but needs all the comforts that she had from the living world. so the survivors of the living world must burn all the things that one needs (money, clothing, furniture, etc) to their deceased ancestors to have for their next life. okay. i respect that. so there they were...burning away. offering whatever they could to their mother.

we took a group shot of at least 25 relatives from 1 yr old to 89 yrs old! epic!

and to imagine...i was going to leave my mother, take a train to hue that morning, and meet them in hanoi in order to avoid any miserable travels like the 13 hr open bus tour...and i would have missed all this!! silly me.
i continued to not plan and to stay in the flow...with mom!

---